Suryakumar Yadav is not scoring runs in IPL and Shreyas Iyer’s bat is making it difficult for him.

Delhi: As soon as the name of Surya Kumar Yadav comes up, no one can remember the last time this batsman proved his reputation right and scored a lot of runs. Not much time has passed and in IPL 2025 itself, Surya scored 717 runs in 16 innings, the average was 65.2 and not a single score was less than 20. The situation in 2026 is such that the scores are becoming so low that the previous record is forgotten.

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In the current season of IPL till 17 April: 106 runs in 5 innings at an average of 21.2. It is not that this is the situation only in IPL. Scored scores of 0, 11 and 18 in the knockout matches of the T20 World Cup this year. Everyone believes that this is a matter of poor form and not of him completely losing the talent to score runs.

Even then, only the current form gets importance and this IPL has turned the challenge for Surya directly from Shreyas Iyer in India’s middle order into a new discussion. Shreyas Iyer is challenging Surya not only as captain but also as a batsman. Coincidentally, while on one hand Shreyas is bringing new success to Punjab Kings by scoring runs, this season is becoming a question mark not only for Surya but also for his team Mumbai Indians.

Coincidentally, on April 16, both these teams i.e. Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings were face to face at Wankhede Stadium. Shreyas Iyer scored 50 and Punjab Kings won the match with 21 balls left in their side. Mumbai Indians had scored 195 runs for 6 wickets in which Surya was out for 0. Mumbai Indians suffered their fourth consecutive defeat while Punjab Kings are undefeated this season. Punjab Kings defeated Mumbai Indians for the third consecutive match. Shreyas himself is batting amazingly as captain and batsman.

Many experts had named this match as Shreyas Iyer vs Surya Kumar Yadav for the place in India’s T20 International captain and T20 team. While Surya was out for a duck, Shreyas scored his third consecutive 50. Scored 50(29) against Chennai, followed by 69*(33) against Sunrisers and 66(35) against Mumbai Indians. That is why after the match, Sunil Gavaskar also called Shreyas one of the best captains available in India and also a top T20 batsman.

Surya was called ‘Mr. 360’ for his batting and now there is a question mark over his place in the team. Experts are even saying that if Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee still does not include Shreyas in the Indian T20 team, then it will be assumed that he has some personal grudge against Shreyas, otherwise Shreyas does not know what else to do? In this IPL season, the graph of Punjab Kings going up further and the graph of Mumbai Indians going down further will increase the problems for Surya.

There are signs of change towards a new captain. Shreyas Iyer is presenting himself as a leader and not just batting in the middle order and is slowly ticking all the boxes required for the same. It is possible only for Surya himself to change this question. Suryakumar Yadav is struggling and Shreyas Iyer is continuously succeeding. Well, for both the teams, their individual success or failure is not the only factor, but it is the most important factor.

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Amidst the ups and downs of luck and results in this IPL tournament between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, the contest between Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav has become an interesting one. Both of these are the mainstays of batting, whether the team is of IPL or Team India. We cannot deny the fact that Mumbai Indians’ struggles this season made it more difficult for Surya to score runs whereas the team gave Shreyas a better base to bat in every match and he played with scores like 83/2, 95/2 and 117/2 and could bat openly and aggressively. Last season, Surya also found the right base as he recorded the most runs in an IPL season by any Mumbai Indians batsman with a total of 717 runs in 16 matches.

It is true that Surya is the captain of the T20 World Cup winning team and we will not remove him just by looking at his IPL form because the playing conditions are very different but Shreyas Iyer’s form this season has added an interesting aspect to the middle order discussion and this discussion is gaining more momentum every day during IPL 2026.